Francesca Brooks
@francescabrooks.bsky.social
Lecturer in Old English at University College Cork. Writer of poetry & prose. Early Medievalist, Late Modernist, Feminist. Author of 'Poet of the Medieval Modern'. Find more of my writing at https://francescabrooks.com/
Just read and loved 'What Remains'!
November 11, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Just read and loved 'What Remains'!
This week I'll be submitting the manuscript, with my brilliant co-editor Carl Kears, for our OA volume with UCL Press: 'Beyond Medieval Archives: Rethinking the medieval archive through creative and critical practice'. Still so much work to do before Thursday, but it's exciting!
October 21, 2025 at 11:24 AM
This week I'll be submitting the manuscript, with my brilliant co-editor Carl Kears, for our OA volume with UCL Press: 'Beyond Medieval Archives: Rethinking the medieval archive through creative and critical practice'. Still so much work to do before Thursday, but it's exciting!
Wild spirit of the woods! Honey Fungus is having an amazing season, springing up everywhere in abundance. Is it just the conditions (mild and damp) or is something else going on?
October 19, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Wild spirit of the woods! Honey Fungus is having an amazing season, springing up everywhere in abundance. Is it just the conditions (mild and damp) or is something else going on?
Went to see Marina Abramović's 'Balkan Erotic Epic' at Factory International last night & it was phenomenal. Abramović introduced the show from the bar, but was also there all night - entering the stages & joining the audience for key moments. At one point she prophetically told us 'Rain is coming'.
October 10, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Went to see Marina Abramović's 'Balkan Erotic Epic' at Factory International last night & it was phenomenal. Abramović introduced the show from the bar, but was also there all night - entering the stages & joining the audience for key moments. At one point she prophetically told us 'Rain is coming'.
Some fabulous fungi encountered on recent walks - a Deceiver, porcelain fungi, purple jellydisc hanging out with some honey fungus, and a clutch of Sulphur Tuft.
October 7, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Some fabulous fungi encountered on recent walks - a Deceiver, porcelain fungi, purple jellydisc hanging out with some honey fungus, and a clutch of Sulphur Tuft.
Delighted to get my copy of the new issue of PN Review in the post this morning.
Very pleased to be in such good company too! My essay is about following in the footsteps of Lynette Roberts on the trail of the Camaldolese Grail/Gradual at the V&A Art Library. Happy to provide access!
Very pleased to be in such good company too! My essay is about following in the footsteps of Lynette Roberts on the trail of the Camaldolese Grail/Gradual at the V&A Art Library. Happy to provide access!
September 29, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Delighted to get my copy of the new issue of PN Review in the post this morning.
Very pleased to be in such good company too! My essay is about following in the footsteps of Lynette Roberts on the trail of the Camaldolese Grail/Gradual at the V&A Art Library. Happy to provide access!
Very pleased to be in such good company too! My essay is about following in the footsteps of Lynette Roberts on the trail of the Camaldolese Grail/Gradual at the V&A Art Library. Happy to provide access!
Somehow it's week 3 at UCC already! I've got 2 seminars with the MA students this week, where we'll be exploring riddles & writing technologies, and continuing to think about how medieval books were created & perceived.
September 24, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Somehow it's week 3 at UCC already! I've got 2 seminars with the MA students this week, where we'll be exploring riddles & writing technologies, and continuing to think about how medieval books were created & perceived.
Very much looking forward to this academic year - I'm pleased to say that I'm joining University College Cork as Lecturer in Old English with the Department of English & Digital Humanities!
I can't wait for what lies ahead.
I can't wait for what lies ahead.
September 1, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Very much looking forward to this academic year - I'm pleased to say that I'm joining University College Cork as Lecturer in Old English with the Department of English & Digital Humanities!
I can't wait for what lies ahead.
I can't wait for what lies ahead.
Our visit just so happened to coincide with a Steampunk festival, which made the atmosphere of the place extra saturated & surreal.
May 7, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Our visit just so happened to coincide with a Steampunk festival, which made the atmosphere of the place extra saturated & surreal.
Loved having the opportunity to revisit Portmeirion, the little Italian village made from architectural salvage on an estuary mouth in north Wales, at the weekend.
May 7, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Loved having the opportunity to revisit Portmeirion, the little Italian village made from architectural salvage on an estuary mouth in north Wales, at the weekend.
Lovely to wake up to a review of my book 'Poet of the Medieval Modern: Reading the Early Medieval Library with David Jones' in JEGP this morning by Emily Thornbury.
It's always a gift to know that people have spent time with your work and understood it! muse.jhu.edu/pub/34/artic...
It's always a gift to know that people have spent time with your work and understood it! muse.jhu.edu/pub/34/artic...
April 10, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Lovely to wake up to a review of my book 'Poet of the Medieval Modern: Reading the Early Medieval Library with David Jones' in JEGP this morning by Emily Thornbury.
It's always a gift to know that people have spent time with your work and understood it! muse.jhu.edu/pub/34/artic...
It's always a gift to know that people have spent time with your work and understood it! muse.jhu.edu/pub/34/artic...
I spent this weekend in London and squeezed as much culture as I could in. Punk themed with the brilliant 'Linder: Danger Came Smiling' exhib at the Hayward Gallery & Anne Carson's Elektra, with phenomenal Brie Larson. Mickalene Thomas (new to me), also at the Hayward, blew me away!
March 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM
I spent this weekend in London and squeezed as much culture as I could in. Punk themed with the brilliant 'Linder: Danger Came Smiling' exhib at the Hayward Gallery & Anne Carson's Elektra, with phenomenal Brie Larson. Mickalene Thomas (new to me), also at the Hayward, blew me away!
I'm excited to be hosting an author event at House of Books & Friends in Manchester next month. Two brilliant debut authors - Jodie Matthews and Róisín Lanigan - and their haunted house novels!
It's on the 24th April, and you can book a ticket here: houseofbooksandfriends.com/event/in-con...
It's on the 24th April, and you can book a ticket here: houseofbooksandfriends.com/event/in-con...
March 6, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I'm excited to be hosting an author event at House of Books & Friends in Manchester next month. Two brilliant debut authors - Jodie Matthews and Róisín Lanigan - and their haunted house novels!
It's on the 24th April, and you can book a ticket here: houseofbooksandfriends.com/event/in-con...
It's on the 24th April, and you can book a ticket here: houseofbooksandfriends.com/event/in-con...
Loved having the opportunity to finally catch 'Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes' at the @hepworthwakefield.bsky.social on the weekend. Women were at the centre of this exhibition & I enjoyed discovering new artists + incredible collage.
February 24, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Loved having the opportunity to finally catch 'Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes' at the @hepworthwakefield.bsky.social on the weekend. Women were at the centre of this exhibition & I enjoyed discovering new artists + incredible collage.
Pleased to get a print copy of the latest Green Letters, which includes my review of Pippa Marland's 'Ecocriticism and the Island: readings from the British-Irish Archipelago'. You can read a free e-print by following the link here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ACGC3...
February 18, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Pleased to get a print copy of the latest Green Letters, which includes my review of Pippa Marland's 'Ecocriticism and the Island: readings from the British-Irish Archipelago'. You can read a free e-print by following the link here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ACGC3...
Scant Mag Issue #1 launches today at Saan1 in the northern quarter. I've got a poem & a series of photos in it, responding to local floods. unitom.co.uk/products/sca...
January 25, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Scant Mag Issue #1 launches today at Saan1 in the northern quarter. I've got a poem & a series of photos in it, responding to local floods. unitom.co.uk/products/sca...
Beginning the week a little low energy in mind but not spirit, after an incredible walk in the snowy Peak District over the weekend!
January 13, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Beginning the week a little low energy in mind but not spirit, after an incredible walk in the snowy Peak District over the weekend!
Lingering snow and the glow of Witches Butter fungi from the wet branches.
January 7, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Lingering snow and the glow of Witches Butter fungi from the wet branches.
Finally able to reach the River Mersey again through Fletcher Moss park after the floods, only to discover that the river has punched a hole in the path on the banks.
January 4, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Finally able to reach the River Mersey again through Fletcher Moss park after the floods, only to discover that the river has punched a hole in the path on the banks.
My favourite books read in 2024. Last year there was nothing I enjoyed more than escaping into fiction of all kinds and all genres. I read a lot less non-fiction than I usually do and I was hungry for plot and for page turners.
In the stack:
*Miranda July, All Fours
*Isabella Hammad, Enter Ghost
..
In the stack:
*Miranda July, All Fours
*Isabella Hammad, Enter Ghost
..
January 2, 2025 at 10:06 AM
My favourite books read in 2024. Last year there was nothing I enjoyed more than escaping into fiction of all kinds and all genres. I read a lot less non-fiction than I usually do and I was hungry for plot and for page turners.
In the stack:
*Miranda July, All Fours
*Isabella Hammad, Enter Ghost
..
In the stack:
*Miranda July, All Fours
*Isabella Hammad, Enter Ghost
..
Teaching Beowulf on Friday and Virginia Woolf on Tuesday!
December 3, 2024 at 10:42 AM
Teaching Beowulf on Friday and Virginia Woolf on Tuesday!
Frantically typing a way today trying to get a lecture written on 'Beowulf' for the creative writing students at MMU. I got drafted in to deliver this at the last minute, but it's been an exciting challenge - let's see what they make of it!
November 28, 2024 at 11:27 AM
Frantically typing a way today trying to get a lecture written on 'Beowulf' for the creative writing students at MMU. I got drafted in to deliver this at the last minute, but it's been an exciting challenge - let's see what they make of it!
Went with my mum to see the Vanessa Bell exhibition at the MK Gallery last week & it was glorious! An absorbing 'world of form & colour'. I loved seeing Bell's experiments with ceramics & collage + this haunting painting of Virginia Woolf in fancy dress!
November 23, 2024 at 12:19 PM
Went with my mum to see the Vanessa Bell exhibition at the MK Gallery last week & it was glorious! An absorbing 'world of form & colour'. I loved seeing Bell's experiments with ceramics & collage + this haunting painting of Virginia Woolf in fancy dress!
Thanks so much to everyone who has recently followed me - I can't keep up!
I'm a writer & researcher based in Manchester. I'm fascinated by archives, women's writing, creative process & experiment, & how medieval culture continues to shape perceptions of place & landscape.
I'm a writer & researcher based in Manchester. I'm fascinated by archives, women's writing, creative process & experiment, & how medieval culture continues to shape perceptions of place & landscape.
November 23, 2024 at 11:44 AM
Thanks so much to everyone who has recently followed me - I can't keep up!
I'm a writer & researcher based in Manchester. I'm fascinated by archives, women's writing, creative process & experiment, & how medieval culture continues to shape perceptions of place & landscape.
I'm a writer & researcher based in Manchester. I'm fascinated by archives, women's writing, creative process & experiment, & how medieval culture continues to shape perceptions of place & landscape.
After a phenomenal Manchester Literature Festival event with Richard Powers last week, I'm diving into Playground & finding a lot of comfort in Powers's return to the ocean playgrounds of his childhood imagination!
November 12, 2024 at 8:21 PM
After a phenomenal Manchester Literature Festival event with Richard Powers last week, I'm diving into Playground & finding a lot of comfort in Powers's return to the ocean playgrounds of his childhood imagination!